Unsung Tales of the Wolfriders
by SnowLight
Summary: Tales of the Wolfriders all through their history...in the time of Cutter, in the time of Two-Spear, and more...Tales that time has washed away, turned to mere myth.


Title: Shadows Burning, Part I  
  
Place in timeline: When Two-Spear is chief  
  
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Claimers and disclaimers- Darkleaf, Darkpaw, Petal, Dewfall, Riverpouncer, Quickdart, and all other characters not mentioned in the series by the Pinis are mine. The situation and storyline are mine. um.. the stuff about the untrained gift is mine.. and that's about it. The stuff that's owned by Richard and Wendy Pini is owned by them. That should cover everything. Enjoy!  
  
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'Quickly, quietly.' she thinks as she slips into the humans' village. 'If they catch me, this will all be for nothing.' Darkleaf's baby sister Petal had been captured; captured by humans. 'Cursed humans. They should all be strung up by their tiny, round ears and roasted alive!'  
  
'How could it have happened?' Their other, Dewfall, had been fishing at the river a little way from the Holt. Somehow, a hunting party of roundears had managed to sneak up on her. Darkleaf had found her hours later, half-conscious, tied to a tree trunk half under water. Her wolf, Riverpouncer, was badly wounded, trapped a way down the river, unable even to wolf-send for help.  
  
They had been ready to charge in and slaughter the humans. Darkleaf had barely been able to dissuade Two-Spear, their chief, from that mad course of action. He gave her two days to try to rescue her sister. If she couldn't do that and return, they would attack, and slaughter the humans all the more mercilessly to avenge her. But they didn't really have a chance against the humans. They were outnumbered by far too much. The wolfriders would be wiped out if they tried to kill all of the humans.  
  
Tonight is her last chance. If she can't save her sister by dawn, her tribe will be wiped out when they attack. With these horrible thoughts chasing themselves about in her head, she begins to creep through the village.  
  
**Darkpaw?** She sends to her wolf. Darkleaf's brave bondwolf waits impatiently at the forest's edge. Darkpaw would have been right there beside her if the elf had let her.  
  
**?**  
  
**Any sign of a hunting party?**  
  
**No. No sign of tall-one hunters.**  
  
**Good.**  
  
Darkleaf creeps past one hut, then another. Every few steps, she scents the air for a sign of her sister with her keen elfin nose. Ignoring the huts with no scent of her sib, she pads onwards with stealth that only a wolfrider can achieve. Soon, there is only one hut left; the Shaman's hut.  
  
'No! Oh, High-Ones, no!' In the past, the shaman's hut had meant only one thing: torture. But.surely not even a human would torture a babe not three seasons old? Suddenly, a shriek rends the still night air. The shriek of a baby.  
  
Darkleaf can bear the strain no longer. With a full-throated battlecry, she draws her keen, troll-forged blade. She throws aside the hide door and leaps into the hut. There she is confronted with a terrible sight. Innocent Petal is strapped to a large stone embedded in the earth next to the shaman's fire, and the shaman is holding a red-hot coal in a pair of tongs, which he is about to brand her with.  
  
With a cruel grin, the human begins to lower the ember towards the child's skin. Darkleaf begins to fairly quake with fear. The shaman lowers the coal a finger-width. Darkleaf edges forward, blade drawn and glinting in the light of the flames. The human grins even wider, taking sadistic pleasure at the fear he is causing. 'No. There's no way I can make it.' Even it she attacks him now, he could drop the coal onto her unsuspecting baby sister. No.  
  
Then, she hears a flutter by her ear. The shaman's neck sprouts a feathered barb. Time slows, almost to a standstill. The dying human quivers, then begins to crumble. The shaman falls backwards, and is dead before he enters the fire. The coal he held in the tongs whirls backwards and lands.in the straw of his bed.  
  
The straw begins to burn, sluggishly, unnoticeably. Darkleaf turns to the hide door of the hut.  
  
**Who?.Quickdart!** She greets her cousin with relief. Relief that it is he, not another human, or a revenge-hungry Two-Spear. **How?.Why?.Wha-**  
  
**To help you, silly!** He darts over to give her a quick hug. Suddenly, as Darkleaf turns to free her sister, she sees the flames. The greedy orange tongues are growing with alarming speed. "Oh, puckernuts!" She whips out the dagger that she had sheathed at her cousin's entrance and begins sawing at Petal's bonds as the babe squeals with glee at seeing her sister. She would carry her out, stone and all, but the rock is just too massive, and too deeply imbedded in the earth. Darkleaf hardly notices Quickdart join her in slicing the tethers.  
  
After a few agonizingly slow moments, the first hide strip parts. Three more are left, but the flames have consumed most of the hut. One more tether snaps, and the fire has surrounded them on all sides. Quickdart begins to panic.  
  
**Darkleaf, what do we do?** cough. **We're surrounded by flames!**  
  
  
  
Heheheh.and there I shall leave you, hanging, until I get the next chapter written. I hope you've enjoyed it thus far! Please R&R to tell me what you think! See you next chapter!  
  
~*SnowLight*~ 


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